The proper cavalcade of America. Our star, Robert Young, who appears to the courtesy of Metro-Golden-Mayer, produces a valley of decision. A play, How to Build Paradise, a true but amazing story of men against the jungles. On the cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. We'd like to emphasize that America's millions of cars must be kept rolling if we are to continue our all-out war effort. A damaged car or truck that is not repaired is one soldier less in the battle of transportation. The truck or car whose finish is let go beyond the danger point will soon rust and deteriorate. Will soon become another casualty. So give your car the protection it must have. Take it to the DuPont authorized refinisher in your community. He'll give it complete protection and incidentally, new beauty with DuPont Guco. The DuPont Cavalcade presents How to Build Paradise, starring Robert Young as Captain Parsons. I'm Captain Robert P. Parsons, Medical Corps, United States Navy. No more of a philosopher than you are. Yet, a little while ago, a few hours ended which were so important, so big, I felt as though my whole life and all my work had been preparation for them. I'm in a Navy hospital right now on a South Sea island, standing between two rows of beds, looking down at a young Marine, Barton Hill, watching him breathe. It's as though I cannot move, for fear moving might snap the thread that holds his life. This patient, one in a bed across the aisle, is beckoning to me. I know I must move. Go to him. I'm a doctor. You want to say something, son? How is he, Doc? How's Bart? Well, he's pretty sick. I took seven bullets out of him. I know, but is he all right, sir? Is he going to make it? Excuse me, Captain, you don't realize, sir. What don't I realize, son? He deserves to live, sir. He got 45 jabs. Easy now, Bill, relax. You're a sick boy yourself. That isn't all. When the jabs got Bob Creighton, he... Well, that little guy lying there in that bed, crawled down there himself to rest Creighton. I heard about it, and I'm pulling for him just as hard as you are. He just lays there, with his eyes wide open. Can't he talk? Is there some reason... Hey, look, he moans a little, sir. Yes, he did. Please, Doc, please go see if he can talk, will you? All right, Bill, I wouldn't count on him talking too soon, but if he can, I don't think you need worry about him any longer. Now you relax. I'll find out. Good morning, son. How are you? Wait, I'll lean down so I can hear you more easily. How are you, Bart? Where... Yes? Where am I? He asks me where he is. All I can tell him is that this is United States Table Hospital Number 3, on the island of Alicia, in the South Pacific. I start wondering what those words can mean to him. They don't mean so much to me at this moment as they once did. For already as I go from bed to bed, from building to building, I'm taking our hospital for granted, the way people take for granted the hospitals in their hometowns, forgetting they weren't always there. But all I have to do is think back six months, the day when our ship sighted this island. When Dr. Jones and I stood at the rail, the rain suddenly stopped and we could see our new home, our beautiful island. Hey, Dr. Parsons. Look. Yeah, the rain stopped. No, no, no, no. I mean, look at the island. Hmm. Pretty. Such color. So clean looking. It's ideal for us. And if the rain has stopped permanently, we'll have our stuff set up in no time. Oh, the rain stopped all right. There can't be any more left. Hmm. Rain. What was it you said, doctor? Well, maybe I was wrong. This almost feels like rain. Oh, I wouldn't go that far, doctor, but it is a bit moist. We spent 24 hours waiting for the rain to stop and then give up, knowing the war won't wait and we can. Dr. Jones and I set out with Lieutenant Gre, our construction officer, to explore our beautiful island. Dr. Jones insists upon talking even while we're walking up the dangerous trail. Yeah, I made inquiries, Parsons. They tell me that... Oh, excuse me. Oh, that's all right. I didn't mean to bump you, doctor. You ain't a lieutenant, Gre. No, I'm not. Yeah, so slippery on here. Well, doctor. Well, if you're looking for me, Parsons, I'm down here in the mud. Oh, I see. Oh, here, take my hand. Oh, thank you. Well, I'll do as much for you when your turn comes. Oh, a filthy place. What did you say? In a place like this, I wouldn't dare put on a bandage. If it didn't have mud on it, it would have milled you. I tell you, Parsons, I... Oh, look. A river. Now, where do we go? Oh, I have to build a bridge. A bridge? Can't have a hospital without it. It's a bad-looking stream, sir. What place on this island has got to be a hospital? And judging by battle reports, there isn't much time. Then we'll build a bridge. Right. And a hospital, in spite of all obstacles. But if it isn't asking too much, just to provide a little encouragement, I wish that it would stop raining. Well, that was a bludgeon. Well, now, if I may make another request, I hope that it will stay stopped. Obviously, Dr. Jones, you asked too much. We begin work to build a bridge. We get it built and it washes out. We build it a second time and it washes out a second time. There isn't as much whimsy in the building as there is in the telling. There's hard work and heartbreak. We build a bigger bridge. It doesn't wash out, so we cross over and find a spot for our hospital. Then we start trying to clear the jungle. We don't have machines. We tackle the job with our hands and our backs. Not one of us has much hope of success. I can tell that as I walk among the men. I join the Navy. Why? To get away from a shovel. So never again in my miserable life will I have to pick up a shovel. Good morning, Jim. Oh, Captain. Having trouble? Oh, no, sir. Morning. Beautiful morning. Get away from me. What's that? Pardon, sir. I'm speaking to the flies. Oh, yeah. If it ain't the flies, it's the rats. Captain, sir, if it ain't restricted information, who had the happy thought of choosing this place for a hospital? Well... That may be an irregular question, sir, but I'm very curious. This island was chosen, Jim, because it's convenient to where the fighting is, where it's going to be. The time isn't hard for the wounded who come through here. When they do, there's supposed to be a hospital here with no mud, no flies, and no rats. Oh, sounds like a nice idea, sir. Don't you think we'll make it? You ask me, sir, I'll tell you. I got a feeling this jungle has been here an awful long time. And I got a feeling all us and these shovels is going to do is shake a few leaves. Nothing else, just shake a few leaves. Get away from me. Excuse me, sir, I'm speaking to the flies. It's two months later. What have we got now? Two buildings, a storehouse and a cook shed. We're still sleeping in mud. Heaven knows I'm not complaining. All our men are suffering. But I have one more job than they have. I have to deal with the natives. Sometimes it seems as though things wouldn't be so bad if the natives weren't so polite. They didn't have so much respect for the white man, if their manners were not always perfect and courteous. Oh, Lord, here comes some more of them now. There they stand outside my tent. They won't come in, of course, till I ask them. Come in, please. Good morning, Captain. Good morning, Sir Captain. Good morning. You're looking very well. Then you always do. Thank you, Captain. Sir Captain. We would not disturb you, sir. We long to know if you have good health, too, sir. Oh, yes, I'm fine. It makes us happy. Yes, sir, Captain. Thank you. From my heart, I appreciate your consideration. But most unfortunately, I was just about to depart on a tour of inspection. Oh, the Captain is here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. He's here. So, I need to go to the inspection. Oh, the Captain must go? Yes, I must. Then I make speech. Oh. My people are full of love. We never forget missionaries. They teach us to write, make speech in beautiful English, sing songs. White men always kind. Now, Doctor Come also kind. Oh, yes, kind. Well, thank you, but you see I- It is short speech. Oh, please understand. I end speech. We bring a little present. A present? Looky, I don't like oil. Here, Captain. Why that's beautiful. Believe me, I never saw such perfect seashells in my life. I assure you such a necklace would honor my wife. Oh, you like it? Indeed I do. Oh, thank you. But please, let me have the pleasure of reciprocating. May I offer you a present? We haven't much, but I hope there's something here you'd like. Please mention it. Please, anything you like. Isn't that something? Captain, if you please, if it's not saying too much, I'll give you a present. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. If it's not saying too much. Not at all, not at all. What is it? Just pea soup. I beg your pardon? Pea soup. Pea soup. Pea soup. Well, I'm afraid I don't understand. Could you explain the pea soup, Paul? Pea soup. Yes, sir, Captain. I see. Uh, Holly, please come here. Yes, sir. Uh, could you explain the meaning of pea soup, Paul? Why, yes, sir. Well, please do. The New Zealanders introduced it here in these islands several years ago. It was pea soup in cans. Pea soup. Oh, I see. Pea soup. Oh, the pea soup. Oh, the pea soup. Oh, the pea soup. Oh, the pea soup. Now the word means anything that comes in cans. Ah, I understand. Anything that comes in cans. Yes, sir. Well, let's see. Ah, gentlemen, I have here five cans of peaches. It says in syrup, sugar, added. Here, would they do? The pea soup, Paul. Captain, you are very kind. Yes, sir. Not at all. Believe me, I'm most grateful to learn that pea soup, Paul, means canned peaches. The longer we stay on this island, the more I marvel at our brazen ignorance. Why did we think that we, a group of doctors, a few engineers and carpenters, could install the most delicate, the most intricate part of all civilization in the heart of a jungle? Tonight as I sit here with the doctors, I know that failure is beginning to make itself felt throughout our group. I feel it within myself. I see it on the faces of the others. We have the radio turned on. Radio is our connection with the outside world. And tonight the enemy reports portions of our fleet have been sighted off Island 6. This has not been confirmed, but it looks like invasion. An invasion will be a tough proposition. We have to face the price. Men killed and wounded, men coming back to hospitals. But we know that the price must be... Dr. Jones. Do you think turning off the radio, refusing to listen will make our situation better? And do you think we're prepared to accept wounded? Plans call for them being sent here and we're not ready for them. We haven't got a hospital. We haven't got anything. We're just a group of doctors standing in the mud of a jungle. We aren't anything more than that. Exactly. And we're not going to be any better if we refuse to face facts. I'm sorry about the radio, sir. That's all right. We were thinking the same things all of us were thinking. Where is the operating room? Where are the wards with beds? Where is the stablespace to keep supplies? Where can we work and live away from dirt and insects? How can we even keep patients dry? Those are the questions in our minds, aren't they? Yes, and what are the answers? I tell you there's no hope. Yes, there is. There's one, doctor. That hope lies within ourselves, within our group. The brains God gave us. The ability to think and plan and then do. I doubt if we'll get the answer by thinking. What other way is there? Listen. Hmm? Oh, it's the natives. This is the night they hold a prayer meeting across the street. That certainly isn't a native chance. No, all the missionaries taught in America the beautiful. That's their own interpretation. Kind of pretty, isn't it? Yes. We better get back to our problem. Maybe we never left our problem, doctor. Consider these natives. They haven't much, but they do have faith. Their prayer meeting might well serve as an example. And now, gentlemen, we all need some sleep. Perhaps tomorrow we'll... Excuse me, Captain. Come in, Holly. You want to see me? Yes, sir. I have some bad news, sir. It's our bridge. Don't tell me. Not again. A truckload of supplies has crashed through it. Oh, no. Anyone hurt? No, sir. Well, the bridge is completely gone, sir. Right now it must be about halfway to the ocean. I see. Gentlemen, at this point, I suggest we all go across the street to the prayer meeting. You are listening to Robert Young as Captain Robert P. Parsons in How to Build Paradise on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Now with the second half of our story, Captain Parsons, Medical Corps, United States Navy, resumes telling about the Build Jungle Hospital. Faith is a great thing. I'd say it's the greatest thing in all life. I know. We're rebuilding our bridge because faith gives us courage. Even though cold logic tells us nothing except the miracle will make our situation better, get us ready to do the big job, the job of carrying land. Then faith, or whatever you want to call it, produces the miracle. And the miracle worker comes in a Jeep. An ensign who breezes into my tent as though the world is merely a simple trinket he himself designed for his own amusement. Captain Parsons? Yes. An ensign married to the Sea Bees. The Sea Bees? Just arrived, Captain. Uh, what's your proposition, sir? My uh, proposition? Yes, sir. What is it you want here? We want a hospital. I know that, sir, but how many buildings? Well, ideally we ought to have thirty or thirty-five. I mean if we could actually build them. How soon do you need them? Well, we should have them in a month. What's the matter? I have my doubts about the month, sir. We usually don't stay in one place a whole month. We got jobs waiting on us from here to Tokyo. Oh, but since you're already here, what does he want? Don't worry, sir, you'll get your hospital. Just what do you want it put? Look, uh, you don't know what you're up against. You can't build a hospital in a place like this overnight. Don't say things like that to the Sea Bees, sir, because we're just stubborn enough to do it. That Sea Bee stubbornness brought results. Already they've torn out the jungle and are putting in foundations. I like the young ensign. I like the way he walks over to where Dr. Jones is trying to help. Hey, doctor, what are you doing there, sir? Well, I'm trying to assist you fellas by hotting these pieces of steel. Oh, great. Fine. Excuse me. Let me take that. Uh, may I ask, sir, how long did you study medicine? Eight years. Eight years. What did it cost you to go through school? Well, I'm not sure. Ten thousand dollars, perhaps. Say, just why are you so interested in my medical history? Well, you sweated your brains out in college for eight years, and your dad, he sweated all over supplying the ten thousand bucks, right? Yeah, I suppose so, but I... Now, supposing while you're helping us you smash your fingers, and supposing tomorrow I decide I want my appendix out, you see? Yeah, but I... Now, you just sit down, doctor, and take it easy. Step right over there. That's fine. Now, actually, I've got my appendix out, but I've still got my tonsils. Hey, you guys! Hello there, Palo's Police! The doctor's waiting for a hospital! For four weeks, this island has vibrated day and night. Sometimes I think CBs have a kind of insanity. They've already completed over 45 buildings. What is it that makes those men work 12, 14, 16 hours a day? Would they work this way at home in time of peace, or even in wartime? No one can stop them. They seem almost desperate in their desire to build, build, build. I want to ask Ensign Merritt about those things. I find him down where his men are finishing the barracks. Oh, uh, Mr. Merritt. Yes, sir, Captain. Want to see me? I was just going by. I thought I'd say hello. Well, I'll show you around. Now watch your step. Thanks. You've done a wonderful job. We run a wonderful business. Watch those boards, sir. Don't slip. When you fell asleep? Last night at midnight, I could still hear someone pounding. Time and a half for overtime, you know. Great incentive. Just step inside, sir. Wait till I open the screens door. Oh, thank you. Now, how do you like your captain? How to find a place? Oh, it's wonderful. Ensign, I'd like to ask you something. Go ahead, sir. You know there isn't any time and a half in this business. I'm not going to be here long. I'm going to be here for a while. I'm going to be here for a while. I'm going to be here for a while. I'm going to be here for a while. What is the incentive? What makes you men so eager to work? I thought a little about that once. Well, what's your answer? Well, let me put it this way. Why did you become a doctor? To get rich? No, of course not. And when the phone used to ring in the middle of the night and there was somebody in an accident, did you get up and go only because you got paid for it? No, not exactly. Then it isn't money. Think what would happen, Doc, Captain. If you medicos ever quit or even relaxed, the human race would slip back a bit, wouldn't it? Maybe all away. Well, sometimes I wonder if we can keep the human race where it is. Right. You and I go, Doc. You're trying to build a better human race as fast as people try to kill themselves off, and we're trying to rebuild the world as fast as it gets knocked down. The island seems still. The sea bees are gone. Now all we have to do is move in our equipment. How many beds have you got, Jones? Well, my boys have put up 200. They're unpacking the rest. Davis, have you tested the air conditioning equipment for the operating room? Just plugging it in, sir. Another couple of hours. We'll see how it goes. We still have until tomorrow. Dr. Goodman, how about the supplies? My boys are building shelves yet, but... What is it, Howie? Don't bother me now unless it's necessary. Message, sir. The hospital ship is ahead of schedule. They just radioed they're approaching the harbor. Listen. The ship. There are 500 patients on that ship. How many beds have you got ready? 200. Well, have your boys unpack the others. Double quick. And get those ambulances down to the beach. They'll be back in three hours. Let's have this place ready. Understand, ready and waiting. Post 66, Doug. Sponge. There's another bullet. Did they get all those beds up yet? Yes, sir. Clamp. Did Goodman's men get all the supplies in? Yes, sir. All okay, sir. Another bullet. Boy, the sack of lead. And the ceiling ready? Right, sir. I hope we save him. Pulse. Steady, sir. Weak but steady. Hand me that needle. How's Dr. Jones doing? Oh, fine, sir. He's operating like man. I heard him swearing, sir. So I guess he's happy again. Yeah, good. We made it. We made it. Okay, Peters, this boy will do all right. What time is it? Never mind. Doesn't matter. Davis, get the next case ready. The whole night is fight, fight against death, but in a modern hospital. As time passes, I forget where we are. Forget even that we're in a jungle. But these are the hours that are so important, so big. I feel as though my whole life has been lived and all my work done so that I would be prepared to meet them. Not only my life and my work, the lives and work of many men. And the reward is ample, generous. You'd know that if you were here with me, standing over the bed of this young Marine, Barton Hill. And he asks me where he is. Where, where am I? This is the U.S. Naval Mobile Hospital number three on the island of Alicia. That's where you are, Bart. It looks like, like paradise. Looks like what? Paradise, sir. Hey, Doc. Oh, excuse me, son. There's a friend of yours over in that other bed wants to talk to me. Now you get some rest. All right? Yes, sir. You call me Bill? Is he all right? Is Bart going to live? He's a wonderful man. He's a wonderful man. Is he going to live? Why, of course he's going to live. He says he's in paradise. No one dies in paradise if we can help it. That's good. That's good, sir. That's swell. I'd like to meet him. Yeah alright. Our thanks to you Robert Young and to all members of tonight's DuPont Cavalcade cast. We are now going to return in just a moment. Now here is Jane Hippen. In mobile hospitals and field units on the war fronts, doctors are using compact portable x-ray equipment. The same diligent and painstaking effort to develop this equipment has also accelerated the tempo of the war at home against TB. Tuberculosis can be stamped out. Dr. Thomas Paran, Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, tuberculosis can be eliminated as a public health problem in a measurable time if we use the x-ray to locate every case in the population. And I mean every case. And if we provide adequate facilities and personnel to isolate and treat infectious cases. For the first time, our technological progress makes this goal practical. Unquote. The latest development in the war against tuberculosis is an x-ray machine compact enough to be mounted in a closed truck or trailer. The truck can drive right into your neighborhood, to a schoolhouse say, or your nearest clinic. Not only is the x-ray machine itself small, but the x-ray film is smaller than ordinary too. The x-rays are sent through your chest as usual. But instead of printing a shadow picture on a large photographic film, the shadow is cast on a screen called the fluoroscopic screen. And then a small picture is taken of the screen. You might call it a picture of a picture. One of these mobile trucks can examine as many as 60 people an hour. Induction stations have used the new method to examine 12 million men for the Army, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Marines. Today, with these smaller films, and with the mobile truck units growing in number in state after state, x-ray examinations are being brought to larger and larger groups of people, even in remote localities. With this new development, the nation is moving closer to the day when we will be able to do just what Surgeon General Paran advises, locate every case of tuberculosis in the United States. This x-ray equipment, used not only in mobile installations, but also in hospitals and clinics, depends for much of its effectiveness on the screen used and on the extra sensitive, due to photographic film. X-ray films and fluoroscopic screens are outstanding examples of du Pont's better things, or better living through chemistry. And here is the star of tonight's Tupont Cavalcade, Robert Young. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow is National Maritime Day, and the whole nation will salute the 230,000 officers and men of the Merchant Marine who have served so magnificently in spite of all obstacles. They have carried our armies to victory in Europe, and now they have embarked on the even greater job of carrying the men and supplies thousands of miles across the Pacific. America is very proud of its merchant fleet, the greatest in the world. But the task ahead will require still more men, officers and seamen who have their certificates, are urgently needed. If you are a trained seamen, or know some who is, help the Merchant Marine to get their needs. Wire collect Merchant Marine Washington, D.C., giving ratings or licenses and addresses. Join our great Merchant Marine as it sails on to final victory. Next week, the Tupont Cavalcade will bring you the ironic story of a flier who was too good to be a fighter pilot, who was so good that he was allowed by Army Air Forces only to, in his phrase, shoot the Japs with a Brownie. It's the story of the perilous and vital work of the Army Air Forces reconnaissance. And our star will be William Holden. The music for tonight's Tupont Cavalcade was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. Our cavalcade play was written by Philip Lewis based on the book Mob III by Captain Robert P. Parsons, published by Bob Smarrow. And we thank Graham inviting you to listen next week to William Holden in recon pilot on the Cavalcade of America, brought to you by the Tupont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is the National Broadcasting Company.
